Teresa (1951)

An immature mama's boy (John Ericson) goes away from home for the first time when he serves in WWII. While serving in Italy, he falls in love with an Italian girl (Pier Angeli) and marries her. But when the war is over and he's back home with his controlling mother (Patricia Collinge, THE LITTLE FOXES), he finds he's ill equipped to be a husband. Directed by Fred Zinnemann (FROM HERE TO ETERNITY), I found it hard to empathize with Ericson's protagonist. The film places the blame for his problems squarely on his mother's shoulders but I think the screenplay is being unfair to her. Sure, she's every wife's nightmare for a mother in law but her wimpy son needs to get a pair of balls! In her American film debut, the lovely Pier Angeli positively blooms on the screen. You can see why she quickly became one of MGM's most popular young stars during the 1950s and if there's a reason to see this film, it's her! With Rod Steiger, Ralph Meeker, Peggy Ann Garner, Edward Binns, Edith Atwater and Franco Interlenghi (De Sica's SHOESHINE).